Strategies for connecting staff to a communication hub

Document open for contributions - shall we make it creative commons?

In December 2011, Michael Chalk met with Alex Jedlicko from Laverton, and during the discussion, we came up with these ideas in response to this question:

This document is now linked from the North-West e-learning mentor blog.

And what are the barriers? for example:

Goal

Strategy

Reflection

Make teachers feel comfortable in the environment

Give people a sense of ownership early on eg each teacher has their own page and creates a profile for other staff to see.

Provide examples of existing wikis for students and staff. See if you can get guest access into a similar wiki (*examples below)

mini project - use page to report on progress

Keep it fun while beginning

Start with social activities, could include weekly topics such as your favourite book or movie, travel stories. Perhaps even try some games or a competition (examples?). 

Feel prepared as you go into the project

Have a set of activities & topics ready in advance, for building the page, or discussion. Then you can draw on these as you go through the term (ie don't have to strain your brain, do all the brainstorming & preparation in one go).

Prevent overload for yourself later on

Have a plan prepared like this, perhaps with eg

> date > skill > task

> Week 4 > Add video > each teacher finds a youtube video & adds it to their page (perhaps get them to search for their favourite comedian).

use the SMART goals:

specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely

Have a set of help files on hand

Look for existing help files, eg in the wikispaces help system. Don't build your own unless you have to. (Jill Koppel of CNLC & Lynne Gibb of Coonara Community House worth asking here).

Give stronger motivation to engage

Provide things on the wiki that teachers actually need, such as the weekly staff newsletter, or admin files they have to have. Store these on the wiki - in the early days you might need to email regularly with direct links to the relevant page.

Create a staff calendar (eg in google) and embed that on one of the pages. Let staff know that's where to find meeting date changes.

Convince people that change is worthwhile

Be sure of your own understanding of the possible benefits, and your own goals in making the change.

For example: "Here's an opportunity to:

  • "connect with your colleagues more easily (once you know how),
  • "get access to useful documents when you're off site,
  • "find out the latest schedule changes for meetings,
  • "build a place where you can share teaching resources with your colleagues."

Then ask them what they would like to see in such a system (assuming it could work for them). You may need to calm their fears at this point. Cynicism about technology, etc.

Build up staff investment in the project, and work on their technology skills

Get each staff member to set their own technology-learning goals. (eg using an online form, survey monkey or google forms - good example from Jill at Carlton Neighbourhood Learning Centre (CNLC))

map the goal to a real task required at their centre, relate to mini project

References:

Some other examples of wikis in education:

NB: Searching for existing wikispaces help files, video screencasts etc.

Credits: Michael Chalk, Jill Koppel & Alex Jedlicko pooled their resources to create this document. License: Creative commons license: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike CC BY-NC-SA.

photo credit: (creative commons at flickr) Thanks: toofarnorth at flickr.